From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki

Starhoppers are starships in the Beast Era.

Flying Manta Ray

Starhoppers are single-passenger spaceships of Cybertronian craft. They are capable of performing quantum scans of nearby planets.

Fiction

Beast Wars

Depth Charge piloted a Starhopper while tracing the spark energy signature of Protoform X. The ship fell through a temporal anomaly and crashed in an ocean on prehistoric Earth. It was destroyed by Rampage. Deep Metal

Notes

• Depth Charge's Starhopper was numbered 04.

• The presence of Arabic numerals on Depth Charge's starhopper, if taken as canonical rather than a production oversight, implies a of connection between that ship (or its place of origin) and human cultures.

• Depth Charge's own vehicle mode bears a resemblance to a starhopper, with vertically-oriented triangular "wings" held out from the hull on thin shafts.

• The Canopy of the Starhopper bears a resemblance to an F-117 Nighthawk.

• Cheetor was familiar enough with Starhoppers that he was able to identify one at great distance.